Develop an understanding and awareness of themselves.
Learn that they have influence on and are influenced by others.
Learn that experiences can be shared.
How young babies begin to explore their own movements and the environment in individual ways.
How babies respond to adults and children.
Say or sing made-up rhymes or songs while stroking or pointing to the babies' hands, feet or cheeks.
Respond to and build on babies' expressions, actions, and gestures.
Find out what babies like and dislike through talking to their parents.
Devote uninterrupted time to babies when you can play with them. Be attentive and fully focused.
Plan time to share and reflect with parents on babies' progress and development, ensuring appropriate support is available where parents do not speak or understand English.
Where's Tyler - In a childminder's home, the childminder and the young toddler are involved in an interaction involving words, actions and touch. [transcript]
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8-20 Months
Become aware of themselves as separate from others.
Discover more about what they like and dislike.
Have a strong exploratory impulse.
Explore the environment with interest.
Greeting a friend - In a childminder's home, two children greet each other as one arrives at the start of the day. [transcript]
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Strategies babies use to indicate likes and dislikes.
Babies' confidence in exploring what they can do.
Babies' play with their own feet, fingers, and toys placed near them.
Playfully help babies to recognise that they are separate and different from others, for example, pointing to own and baby's nose, eyes, fingers.
Give opportunities for babies to have choice, where possible.
Follow young babies' lead as they explore their surroundings, people and resources.
Place mirrors where babies can see their own reflection. Talk to them about what they see.
Provide choices of different vegetables and fruit at snack time.
Allow enough space for babies to move, roll, stretch and explore.
Faces in the mirror - In a nursery, a practitioner and a child look at their faces together in a mirror. [transcript]
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16-26 Months
Learn that they are special through the responses of adults to individual differences and similarities.
Develop a curiosity about things and processes.
Take pleasure in learning new skills.
Instances of young children celebrating their special skills or qualities.
Ensure that each child is recognised as a valuable contributor to the group and celebrate cultural, religious and ethnic experiences.
Collect stories for, and make books about, children in the group, showing things they like to do.
Ensure resources reflect the diversity of children and adults within and beyond the setting.
22-36 Months
Show their particular characteristics, preferences and interests.
Begin to develop self-confidence and a belief in themselves.
Any patterns in what children choose to do or not to do.
The decisions that children begin to make.
Recognise that children's interest may last for short or long periods, and that their interests and preferences vary.
Value and support the decisions that children make. Encourage them when they try new things.
Be aware of cultural differences in attitudes and expectations. Continue to share and explain practice with parents, ensuring a two-way communication using interpreter support where necessary.
Discuss with staff and parents how each child responds to activities, adults and their peers. Build on this to plan future activities and experiences for each child.
As children differ in their degree of self-assurance, plan to convey to each child that you appreciate them and their efforts.
Consult with parents about children's varying levels of confidence in different situations.
30-50 Months
Seek and delight in new experiences.
Have a positive approach to activities and events.
Show confidence in linking up with others for support and guidance.
Show increasing independence in selecting and carrying out activities.
Children's curiosity and drive to explore things around them.
Situations in which children show confidence and independence.
Children's reactions to and relationships with peers and adults, particularly those whose company they enjoy.
Interact with children in support of their interests and give them scope to learn from many things, including their mistakes.
Encourage children to see adults as a resource and as partners in their learning.
Support children in developing positive relationships by challenging negative or detrimental comments and actions towards either peers or adults.
Teach children to use and care for materials, and then trust them to do so independently.
Vary activities so that children are introduced to different materials.
Plan activities that require collaboration.
Make materials easily accessible to all children, to ensure everybody can make choices.
40-60+ Months
Display high levels of involvement in activities.
Persist for extended periods of time at an activity of their choosing.
Continue to be interested, excited and motivated to learn.
Be confident to try new activities, initiate ideas and speak in a familiar group.
Maintain attention, concentrate, and sit quietly when appropriate.
The activities which absorb and interest individual children.
Reactions to new activities and experiences, understanding that for some children such experiences can be both exciting and worrying.
Children's attentiveness to others, such as at group time, when a child is telling the others about something they have done at home, for example, helping to bath the baby.
Give children opportunities to complete activities to their satisfaction.
Encourage children to explore and talk about what they are learning, valuing their ideas and ways of doing things.
Explain why it is important to pay attention when others are speaking. Give children opportunities both to speak and to listen, ensuring that the needs of children learning English as an additional language are met, so that they can participate fully.
Give time for children to pursue their learning without interruption, and to return to activities.
Provide experiences and activities that are challenging but achievable.
Plan regular short periods when individuals listen to others, such as singing a short song, sharing an experience or describing something they have seen or done.
Putting the blocks away - In a nursery school, a small group of children work independently, together, and with the support of the practitioner to tidy away the resources.
[transcript]
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Making music - In a reception class, the practitioner and a group of children work out different rhythms using percussion instruments. [transcript]
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